Motivation Mondays: Playing Nicely with the Enemy (Wuh?????)

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As a freshman in high school, I was tormented almost daily by a girl that I didn’t know. She absolutely hated the ground that I walked on—I’m pretty sure of it. For the longest time, I didn’t even know her name, but she sure knew mine and every chance she got, she made sure that everyone else knew my name, too.

I’ll admit to you (now that I’m older and out of “danger”) that I was scared. I thought the girl was crazy! Seriously.

Eventually I shared my fears with my mom who gave me some advice that I’ve carried with me ever since:

“Kill her with kindness”.

(Wuh? Was my mom trying to get me beat up? Ha! Ha!)

Thankfully, as strange as her advice sounded to me that day, I listened to her, and it worked out in my favor.

Being kind toward those who are less than eager to return the favor has very little to do with them but everything to do with us. When we allow people to get to us, they get into our heads. We become distracted. We lose our focus. We become ineffective. They break us down.

That’s what enemies do. (Surprised?)

When we stand our ground, maintain our peace, and respond to their behavior from a position of strength, we gain the upper hand.

Here’s the thing. Everyone is not going to like you, or me, or anyone else for that matter. And once we really come to terms with that, our skin becomes thicker. We’re able to take the personal out of it and move forward.

It’s not always easy, but salvaging our peace is worth the effort.

[yellow_box] You can find the full article (and what happened to that bully) on my site Motivation Mondays. [/yellow_box]